Exposed live wires were found near the area where an 8-year-old boy fell from a dock into Lake Conroe and died last weekend, authorities said Monday.

While no cause of death has been determined, the presence of the "hot wires" raises the possibility that the boy was electrocuted, contributing to his death on July 20, said Lt. Tim Cade of the Montgomery County Precinct 1 Constables.

Cade came across the wires shortly after the incident and notified Conroe officials, who confirmed they were "hot wires."

A report from the Harris County medical examiner's office is still pending, Cade said.

"We can't rule anything out until we hear an expert opinion on it," Cade said. "We can't make a judgment call on something we know nothing about. I can't say that he was electrocuted, I can't say that he drowned, I can't give any of the medical reasoning about it. I just found some things that raised some concern and needed some looking into."

Cade said that if the wires contributed to the boy's death, it would be part of a known phenomenon called "electric shock drowning," where victims are paralyzed by electrocution and drown.

Cade said law enforcement officials who work on water are trained to watch out for it.

The boy died after slipping off the Piney Shores Resort dock into 6 feet of water during a Sunday afternoon outing with his father and brother.

Investigators say the boy was playing along the shore with his father and brother when he walked onto the dock, sat down and dangled his feet in the water. Then somehow he slipped into the water and his father rushed over to pull him out and tried to administer CPR.

The child was not responsive by the time emergency workers arrived and flew him to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.